The International Color Quality Club is the only worldwide quality printing competition for newspapers. It has been organised every two-years since 1994 by WAN-IFRA. The competition is open to all newspapers and magazines and all printing plants, independent of the printing processes and materials used.

Membership to the Star Club is awarded to a company in recognition of outstanding printing quality. Achieve 5 or more stars by participating successfully in the International Color Quality Club or by obtaining WAN-IFRA certification for standardised printing.

International Color Quality Club

The International Color Quality Club (ICQC) is the only worldwide printing quality competition for newspapers and magazines. Its goal is to improve the quality of reproduction and printing, while also increasing competitiveness as well as training and motivating all personnel. The competition has been held every two years since 1994.

Publications that participate with success are awarded membership for a two-year period in the exclusive club of top-quality titles. Multiple winners and participants in the WAN-IFRA certification project also have the prospect of being awarded membership of the Star Club.

Publishers and printers can register one or more publication titles for the competition, regardless of the printing technology. Five technical categories cover all possibilities.

The Brazilian publishing company Infoglobo Comunicação e Participações S.A., publishers O Globo, is among the recently announced members of the International Newspaper Color Quality Club (INCQC) for 2014-2016. In this email interview, André Ferreira, the company's Process Engineering Coordinator, discusses the challenges they faced during the contest and the benefits they see from belonging to the INCQC.

Advance Central Services Michigan, publisher of The Grand Rapids Press, is the only U.S. member of WAN-IFRA's International Newspaper Color Quality Club (INCQC) for 2014-2016. In this e-mail interview, Aaron Phipps, Advance's manufacturing plant manager, discusses why his company entered the contest, the challenges it faced, and the benefits it sees from INCQC membership.Read more ...

WAN-IFRA recently announced the members of the International Newspaper Color Quality Club (INCQC) for 2014-2016. Among this year's members is Guatemala's Prensa Libre. In this edited interview, the newspaper's production manager, Erick Morales, discusses why his paper entered the contest, the challenges it faced and the benefits it sees from belonging to the INCQC.Read more ...

Fons Put works as senior innovation consultant for VIGC, the Flemish Innovation Center for Graphic Communication. His contribution refers to the new colour measuring equipment (eXact from X-Rite) that WAN-IFRA has chosen for the evaluations for the International Newspaper Color Quality Club 2014–2016 contest.Read more ...

Once again the renowned International Newspaper Color Quality Club starts anew for its 2014-2016 turn. By the time of closure of registration, over 160 titles have registered for the bi-annual quality contest which shows that it still enjoys great popularity.Read more ...